A social issue today in America is the beauty standards surrounding hair in which African American woman have pressure to live up to. The beauty standards set by society for these woman are very eurocentric, making it a taboo for one to wear their hair naturally. Many African American women have struggled with conforming to these beauty standards and are starting to make their voice heard. This is evident in the Beyoncé music video “Formation” where this social issue is addressed in multiple scenes. In Beyoncé’s music video “Formation” she addresses the issue of stereotyping African American hair through the scenes and lyrics. She uses her video as a platform to express the need for social change. 

The pressure to succumb to societies idea of how African American hair should be is expressed through the song lyrics. The line, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros” is referring to Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy. It is in direct context to the many people that called out her four-year-old daughter for wearing her hair naturally. Many said Beyoncé needed to comb it and a petition was even started, where more than 6,000 people signed. People took offense to the fact that Beyoncé choose to leave her daughters hair natural. Blue Ivy’s hair has been referred to as everything from unkempt to nappy. Eventually, Beyoncé succumb to the social pressure and permed her child’s hair. These lyrics played over a scene of Blue Ivy dancing with two other little girls, all wearing their natural hair. This scene plays with the emotions of the viewer because it shows that no matter the age they are still being targeted by society. The young girls in this scene appear in all white clothing, dancing while smiling happily into the camera. They exude innocence’s, unknowledgeable of the social climate that surrounds their hair. This differs from the other scenes featuring older woman; the grown women tend to look fiercely into the camera showing their dismay towards societies standards. Although these young children are victims of social stereotyping, they do not know yet making them carefree compared to the older woman. The little girls have no pressure to surrender to the social standards set by society yet. 

Many times African American woman feel like they have to conform to the eurocentric standard of beauty set by society. This is illustrated in the scene with the three woman in the wig shop.  The expressions on these woman’s faces show anguish. They are sick and tired of trying to live up to society’s unrealistic image of beauty. Many times African American woman cover their real hair up with wigs or weaves because that’s what is considered to be the most socially acceptable. The girl standing to the right sticks out the most, for she is wearing all blue and a blue wig. The scene also has a blue tint filter over it. The color blue is associated with sadness. During the music video many scenes show woman enraged, but this scene is showing how the woman are sad and disappointed by society. The wigs throughout the wig shop are neon and other crazy colors. This represents how ridiculous it really is to feel like one has to wear wigs to fit in to society. These three woman represent the millions of women conforming to the eurocentric standards of beauty.  

Following the scene of the woman in the wig shop is a faster more upbeat scene representing the change that can happen when all the woman come in “formation”. One of the most noticeable changes between the woman in the two scenes is their hair. All the ladies in the pool have their hair naturally, in contrast to the wigs of the previous scene. The music video went from a slow pace to a more upbeat pace during the switch in scenes. The change in pace represents the anger the woman in the African American community have towards society’s image of how they should look. The women are fed up with having to wear wigs and weaves in order for society to fully accept them.  This scene exudes strength and empowerment.

The ladies on the bottom of the pool signifies their voice being “drowned” out by the rest of society. The lyrics playing over this scene repeats “in formation” many times. This can be looked at two ways, one being that they all have to come together to build one each other up. Supporting each other’s choice to wear natural hair is one step for it to be accepted by society as a whole. If African American woman support other African American woman, the backing can potentially be so strong it does not even matter what the rest of society thinks. The second way these lyrics could be looked at is the ladies all need to get informed about the issue at hand. The line, “ladies, now let’s get in formation” is a call for African American women. By simply deleting the space between in and formation the word takes on a completely new meaning as the word “information”. The hate and racism that is often surrounded by their culture is something that the woman can all relate to. They can come together “in formation” to create something much more powerful than the stereotypes made to be little their culture. 

Together these two scenes show the social climate that surrounds natural African American hair, and the stereotypes and how there needs to be a change. These two scenes are shown to represent the empowering movement to wear natural hair. Together these scenes show the social climate that surrounds natural African American hair, and the stereotypes. African American females have been made to feel insecure about their natural beauty. Together they can all stand up against all of the standards and do as they please. 

The social climate between African American woman and society is something Beyoncé really focuses on in her music video “Formation” through both the lyrics and scenes. Throughout the video hairstyles were worn that are considered by many a “black stereotype”, including; corn rows, braids, and afro and natural hair. Wearing their hair like this is looked down on by much of society today. These women are trying to get “in formation” to break the social standards that are currently set. Beyoncé used her music video to show not only that societies image of beauty is unfair but also that the woman in the African American community are ready to stand against these very social standards. With the empowerment of each other change is right around the corner for these ladies. 
